Kanye West Says ‘Art Is Not a Proxy for Any Ill or Harm’ Amid “Eazy” Video and Pete Davidson Controversy

The artist formerly known as Kanye West has shared a brief message about art being “not a proxy for any ill or harm” amid ongoing coverage of his and The Game’s recently released “Eazy” video, which features what’s widely been interpreted as a claymation-depicted imagining of a Pete Davidson-inspired character being kidnapped.

In an Instagram post on Sunday that also included a screenshot from the recently released video (see below), Ye argued that “any suggestion otherwise” is false. 

“Art is therapy just like this view,” Ye wrote when sharing a still from the video. “[A]rt is protected as freedom of speech.”

Pusha-T and Fivio Foreign were among those who later showed their agreement in the comments, with the former—fresh off his snow storm-inspired Late Show performance of “Diet Coke”—responding with a heart emoji.

Controversies of the music video depiction variety aren’t unfamiliar to longtime Ye fans, who will recall the discourse spurred by the 2016 release of the official video for the Sister Nancy-sampling Life of Pablo cut “Famous.” That video—which ultimately earned a fan in Heart of Glass director Werner Herzog—featured nude synthetic depictions of Donald Trump, Taylor Swift, Bill Cosby, Amber Rose, and more.

Also this week, Kim Kardashian was declared legally single after a Los Angeles judge granted the SKIMS co-founder’s motion requesting the status. In February of last year, she filed for divorce from the Donda 2 artist, with reports at the time stating that “irreconcilable differences” had been cited in the related court documents.